Grain-pitcher.



" O. C. WELCH.

f GRAIN PHCHER. APP'LICATIDN FILED JULY 6,1918.

1,294,212. Patented 1161.111919.

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0. C. WELCHA GRAIN'PITCHER.

APPLICATION FILED IuLY 6, Iena;-

Pat-ented Feb. 1l, 1919.

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GRAIN PITCHER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY S, I9I8.

1,294,212. 'Patented Feb. 11, 1919 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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0. C. WELCH.

GRAIN PITCHER. i APPLICATION FILED luLY'. 191s, 1,294,212. Paten-ted Feb. 11, 1919.

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OSCAR C. WELCH, 0F BUTLER, MISSOURI.

GRAIN-PITCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

'Application led July 6, 1918. Serial N o. 243,676.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, OscAn C. WELCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Butler, in the county of Bates and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GrainPitchers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and tothe letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specificatio This invention. relates to an automatic grain pitcher for separators, and one of the objects ofthe invention is to provide means whereby the grain may be transferred from a pile or stack to the conveyer of the separator or threshing machine. p

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby piles of grain may be alternately operated upon from opposite sides of the machine.`

Itis also the object of my invention to transfer the grain from the ground to the conveyer or threshin machine in such quantities in substantial y continuous feed, so that the separator will be most eiiciently supplied.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, it being understood that the changesV in form, proportion and details of structuremay be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

In the drawings:

Figure I is a perspective view of a pitcher constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. II is a side elevational view of a pitcher connected to a separator.

Fig. III is an end view of the pitcher.

Fig. IV is a detail view of the shifting frame. f

Fig. V is a sectional View through the shaft and the frame actuating gear.

Fi VI is a sectional view through the shifting gear for reversing movement of the shifting frame. y

Fig. VII is a detail View of the grain elevating forks.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates the body portion of the pitching machine supported upon pairs of suitable -ground wheels2 and 3. At the respective ends of the body 1 are upstanding yokes 4 and 5 substantially bow shaped and connected at the upper ends by angle irons 6 and whereby a rigid frame is provided.

On the body 1 is a conveyor 8, the endless belt of which is driven by a pulley 9, receiving motion from the pulley 10 on the cylinder shaft 1l of the thresher or separator. The shaft 12 on which the pulley is mounted carries a pulley 13 around which passes a belt 14 communicating motion to a pulley 15 on a transversely arranged shaft 16 mounted in the upstanding frame 4.

The shaft 16 is splined and carries sliding beveled gears 18 and 19 adapted to operate in unison through the medium of gear shifting yokes 20 whereby when one of the gears 18 or 19 is in mesh with the intermediate bevel gear 2l, the other will be out of mesh therewith and vice-versa. The intermediate gear 21 is rigid on the shaft 22 which carries the winding spools 23 on which are fork-carrying cables to be described hereinafter.

There are two sets of shifting gears, best shown in Fig. III, the one on the right be ing designated A and the one on the left being designated 13. These gear sets operate duplicate mechanism, one from one side of the machine and one from the other. I will proceed to describe the mechanism for the right hand side of the machine, it being understood that the mechanism on the left hand side is simply a duplicate of this.

Carried by the end yokes 4 and 5 are channel irons 24 and 25 consisting of horizontal guides for the transfer frame shown as consisting of the two end rods 26 and 27 and the longitudinal beam or bar 28. The end rods are adapted to slide in their guides and motion in a transverse direction is imparted to the frame from a rack 29 pivotally connected to the bar 28l at 30, rack bar 29 meshmglwith a gear 31 on the shaft 22. The gear 31 is best shown in Fig. V as being loose on the shaft 22 so that said shaft 22 may have a rotative movement independent of the gear 31, but the gear 31 is shown as being held against longitudinal movement with respect tothe longitudinal shaft 22 by the pin 32 passing through the shaft and engaging a recess 33 in the gear flange.

The gear 31 is adapted to be locked to the shaft 22 by a clutch member 34 splined on the shaft 22 and having an end clutch face for engagement with a similar clutchy face on the gear 31. The clutch member 34 may be operated tending over to the separator.

Wound on the spools 23 are the cables 36, there being a number of cables equal to the number of forks on the slings. Each cable is shown as passing over an idler 37 and through a releasing socket 38 (see Fig V11) and has its free end engaged with a fork or sling 39 of well known construction. Vhen it is desired to operate the machine, one of the rods 4:0 or Ll1 connected to the yokes 20 may be given a longitudinal movementwith the result thatveither the gear 18 or gear 19 will come in mesh with the gear 21. 1t will be assumed that the gear 19 is in mesh with gear 21 and that shaft 16 is being driven through the belt and pulley connection with the separator. The clutch 34:.may be operated to lock shaft 32 to gear 31 (see Fig. V) so if shafty 22 is rotated clock-wise the shifting frame will be eX- tended outwardly because the gears mesh with racks 29 and because rods 26 slide in horizontal guides, as shown. At the saine time that the frame is moved outwardly, the cables 36 are unwound from the spools 23 and the forks are moved into engagementA with the grain. When they have reached the point desired, the gears 18 and 19 are shifted so as to cause the spools 23 to wind the cables 36, the weight of the graincausing the forks to close thereupon so that the grain will be raised above the level of the conveyer 8. The reverse movement imparted to shaft 22 will cause the shifting frame to moveinwardly until the forks are over the .conveyer 8. At this time the chains L12 of the forks will have moved up into the release sockets 38 so that the forks will be sprung apart in a manner well known in devices of this class and the grain will be deposited or dropped upon the conveyer 8, whence it will be carried to the conveyer of the separator.

It is recognized that the pile of grain may vary in width and it may be necessary to arrest the outward, movement of the frame while permitting the cables 36 to continue to play out. When this is desirable, the lever mechanism 35 maybe operated to release the gear 31 from rigid engagement with the shaft 22 so that further outward movement of the frame will be prevented, butv the cables will continue to play out so that the tines of the forks may embed themselves into the grain. On the reverse movement the cables 36 will be permitted to begin winding onV the spools 23 before the gears 31 areclutched to the shaft 22 so as to provide for the difference in time between the shifting of the frame and by a lever mechanism 351er;-

the winding on the spools when the frames are not extended.

Vhere two setsof frames are employed, those on the A side of the machine will be extended outwardly while those on the B side of the machine are being retracted or drawn to the center of the conveyer- 8. These frames will operate alternately outwardly and inwardly, so that the feed of the grain to the conveyer 8 will be substantially continuous.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. A grain pitcher comprising a frame, a transversely slidable grain-supporting'frame carried by the first named frameand having'v a longitudinal side bar, grain forks, cables ruiming over the side bar and fork releasev sockets on the side barthroughwhich the cables run, means for alternately moving the slidable frameV in opposite directions, and

means for winding and. u-nwindingY the cables.

2. A grainpitcher comprising 'a supporting frame, transversely slidable frameslcarried by the supporting frame, grain forks carried by the sliding frames, and having winding cables connected thereto', and means for winding the cables and slidingA the frames iii one direction and unwindingthe, cables andsliding tlie'frames in an opposite direction.

3. Ina grain pitcher, horizontally shiftable frames, winding shafts adjacent 4torsaid frames, meansfor. operating thesaid winding shafts, grain forks having cables 4passing over said frames and connected" to' said winding shafts and means for shifting; the4 frames when the winding lshafts are rotated.

l.. In a grain pitcher, horizontally shiftable frames, winding shafts adjacent to said frames, means for operating the said Winding shafts, grain forks having cables passing over said'frames andconnected to said winding shafts, means for shifting the frames when the winding shafts are rotated and reversing clutches betweensaid'-operating means and the winding shafts; Y

5. Argrainpitcher comprising a base, a

frame on said base consisting'ofiip-stand-- ing yokes and longitudinal connecting bars,- guides on said yokes,- laterally shifting frames in said guides, longitudinal shafts c carried by the yokes, a rack and pinion-con-A nections between said frames and said shaft,

cables connected to said shafts and Vpassing over theed'ges of the shifting frames and grain'forks on the free ends of said cables;

6. In a grain pitcher, a supporting frame7 shiftable grain fork carrying frames-on the supporting frame, drive shafts, pinions on said drive shafts, racks connected to the shifting frames for engagement with they pinions andl means for permitting the ydrive shafts to operate Without operating the pinions, said means being effective to connect the pinions and drive shafts together.

7. A grain pitcher comprising a supporting frame, shiftable laterally movable frames carried by the supporting frame, a Winding shaft, grain forks having iexible connection with said Winding shaft, said flexible connection extending over the edges of the shiftable frames and means on the shiftable frames for opening said grain forks to release the grain.

8. In a grain pitcher, a base, a longitudinally movable endless carrier supported by said base, laterally shifting frames supported above the carrier, grain forks, flexible supporting means for said forks extendingl over the edges of the shiftable frames and means for opening the forks when said respect to the frames.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature OSCAR C. WELCH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, I). C.

y forks assume certain relative positions With 20 

